The Hunted Girls by Jenna Kernan (best book club books for discussion txt) 📕

Demko accepted the double-sided color copy of an open greeting card. The back of the card was blank except for the product details and bar code. On the front, there was an illustration of an owl and the caption read: Happy Birthday!

He flipped the page to read the interior. The printed message read, Hope your birthday is a HOOT! On the blank side of the card was the familiar tight cursive lettering.

“Trace evidence?” asked Demko.

“I don’t know. The lab has the original.”

Demko scanned the message that she had already memorized.

Dear Dr. Finch,

I’ve lured three intruders from our home territory, removing them to Lake Bryant, Grass Lake and Silver Glen Springs.

Clearing the field for you.

I hope my display is not wasted and wonder at why you didn’t recognize my little birds. I hope you similarly don’t disappoint.

I look forward to your thoughts on my manifesto coming soon.

The Huntsman

When he glanced up, his expression gave away nothing.

“Before you ask,” said Nadine. “Marion County Sheriff and Skogen’s guys are searching Lake Bryant for Linda Tolan’s remains. It’s one thousand acres, so…”

It might be a while.

“Listen, Nadine, he’s targeting you. Skogen assigned Axel to coordinate your protection.”

Special Agent Axel Vea was a big, light-skinned black man with hair shaved to nothing, who, Clint had told her, was a former army ranger.

“Good choice.”

“I know you like your privacy, but from here until we catch this guy, you’re going to have company. Constant company. Axel has more agents coming in specifically for protection detail. And we will be moving again.”

Nadine could not contain the groan.

“It’s a necessity. April Rupp’s disappearance demonstrates that he knows where you are staying. Because of that, Coleman is canvassing the neighborhood, speaking to neighbors who may have seen April Rupp. She sent me a text that the television news crews are set up on the street before the town house.”

Nadine pressed a hand to her forehead as the weariness pushed down upon her shoulders.

“What about our stuff?”

“The FBI is moving everything to a safe house. Undisclosed location. Protective detail when travel is necessary. We’re going to be working out of that house for a while. You won’t be coming here, either. Videoconferencing and the agents coming to you when necessary.”

House arrest, she thought.

“What about Juliette and Tina?”

“They’ll have an individual agent assigned to their protection. Juliette will attend autopsies virtually and no running for a while. Tina will set up your new office in the safe house.”

“What about you?”

“I’ve refused protective detail.”

By 8 p.m. Nadine was situated in an innocuous home in a gated community. The structure was a single level, U-shaped, with a split-bedroom plan, so the master suite was isolated from the other bedrooms by the common area. The exterior sported Bermuda shades that added privacy. Nadine thought the caged inground pool might be some consolation for the Bureau canceling Tina and Juliette’s morning runs.

She had commandeered the master suite, as it had a sitting room, which she planned to use as her office. The actual office would be shared by the team. The furnishings were new, a nautical collection in cream and navy with accents of coral and yellow. High ceilings, cream-colored tile and marble countertops gave Nadine a peek at how the other half lives.

Juliette had phoned to deliver the bad news. The dental records of Bianca Santander were a match for their Jane Doe.

They now had five victims.

Tina, and her new protective detail of one very capable-looking female agent, had shuttled the contents of the office to this residence and completed the setup as Nadine grabbed several hours of uninterrupted think time with her laptop in her new sitting area.

It was helping. She saw no personal connection between herself and Nikki Darnell or Rita Karnowski. But had a brief contact with Santander, Tolan and Rupp. Linda Tolan was interesting because their killer had used a lure after she had made contact with Nadine, which meant he must have known what Tolan was doing in Ocala. The reason for the travels to the forest for Tolan, Karnowski and Darnell had become obvious when the notifications on their phones were unlocked.

All three of these victims had received similar alerts from the same app.

Darnell had been lured to a remote parking area by the possibility of seeing a magnolia warbler, which Nadine now knew was a small songbird with yellow-and-black markings.

Karnowski was interesting. She did not have a bird-watching app. But Agent Wynns had found an alert on the phone of Hugo Betters, Karnowski’s boyfriend. He had confirmed that this alert caused Rita to demand they take their fateful hike. Rita’s commune with nature included sitting with his binoculars in the area where a painted bunting had been reported. How had the killer known Betters had this app unless he had targeted them earlier?

Nadine believed that Karnowski had been lured by the Huntsman. Betters reported that there were many other kayaks on the river that day. Was one of them their killer? Had he followed them to the nature trail?

She called Skogen to set up another interview with Rita’s boyfriend via Zoom.

Bianca Santander’s disappearance was especially troubling because she had been taken and killed well before Nadine’s involvement with this case had appeared in the news. Though her remains were the most recently recovered, she had died before Linda Tolan. That meant that the Huntsman learned of her arrival on Nadine’s first day here. But how?

Watching the FBI field office? Staking out the hotels in town? By chance? She didn’t know. She did know that Bianca’s cell phone was not able to use apps and she had no interest in bird-watching. She had been taken outside the hotel after her shift ended and before her brother could pick her up.

Linda Tolan had told the FBI that she had been seeking a summer tanager as part of an assignment for wildlife photography.

Nadine checked the list of notifications and there it was, the summer tanager alert on the